A half dozen or so men join McGarity on Friday mornings. The running group includes a professor, doctors and a financial adviser.

McGarity doesn’t have a Fitbit to keep track of his steps but that exercise time is where he says he can get a lot of good thinking done. It’s why he runs without listening to music on headphones.

“That’s sort of where I’m able to kind of focus on the thoughts of the day,” he said.

There was certainly a lot on McGarity’s mind last fall.

Georgia sat star running back Todd Gurley for taking money from memorabilia dealers, which ended up bringing a four-game NCAA suspension. Ultra-successful swim coach Jack Bauerle was serving a suspension from coaching while his major rules violations case went before the Committee of Infractions. Senior athletic administrator Frank Crumley just resigned after an inappropriate relationship with a subordinate surfaced.

“It’s mentally fatiguing when you’re dealing with issues of such prominence,” McGarity said. “Todd’s situation, Jack’s situation, our internal struggles. I think they were all mentally fatiguing because you had to keep the engine running. There were a lot of hours, a lot of time spent on trying to deal with everything at hand. That’s kind of the job of an athletic director in our department, to deal with adversity. When you have situations like that arise, be very strong, be firm and just do the right thing.”

As McGarity approaches five years since being hired as athletic director on Aug. 13, 2010, he said the trying times last September and October aren’t the most difficult stretch as athletic director.

“I think the toughest time was when Johnathan Taylor experienced his injury,” McGarity. “That was a life changing experience.”

The Georgia outfielder collided with another player in a 2011 game at Foley Field and was paralyzed.

“That was the toughest by far,” he said. “By far.”

McGarity keeps up with Taylor, who still gets back for several games a year.

It turns out that Jeremy Foley had it right. The longtime Florida athletic director, who McGarity served under in Gainesville from 1992 to 2010, sent him a note in the “Hope for Today Bible” by Joel Osteeen that McGarity keeps by his desk in his third floor Butts-Mehre office.

“At some point in your career you will be dealing with some tough stuff,” the note reads. “Don’t know what it will be but trust me it will happen. Though you always have (wife) Sheryl to lean on, your staff as well as me if you so desire, you will at some point feel very alone, a little frightened, maybe a little unsure. You will find peace and inspiration and answers in this book. I know I did.”

McGarity does lean on his staff when decisions are made.

Carla Williams, Georgia’s deputy athletic director, said McGarity has a “high level of inclusiveness,” that he trusts his staff “to do our job and do it well.”

Williams worked late nights — some after midnight — along with compliance director Jim Booz last fall.

“Locos, pizza,” she said about the food brought in. “When we’re working on something and it requires us to be here late at night, we’re not eating, healthy nutritious meals. I can say that much. We’ve had plenty of pizza.”

McGarity’s day may begin with the routine of a run, but being the athletic director means being a crisis manager.

“There’s really not a normal day,” he said. “Every time someone asks, ‘How are you doing, how are things going?’ I say until 2:09 (p.m.) it’s going great. Who knows what 2:10 will bring? That’s the way this business operates.”

—

Georgia athletics is a business with a $117 million budget, having grown from $84 million five years ago.

It’s McGarity’s job to make the most of that money and use it to help produce championships.

McGarity took a plunge in the pool with the women’s swimming team to celebrate winning a national championship in 2013. He was with Ma

rk Fox and his men’s basketball team at the coach’s house when it got its second NCAA at-large bid in four years this past March. He sits high up in the stands at the Dan Magill Tennis Complex when the Bulldogs tradition-rich men’s and women’s tennis teams compete in the NCAA championships.

UGA president Jere Morehead said if he drops by a Bulldogs athletic event, more often than not he’ll see McGarity there.

McGarity encourages coaches to learn from each other, said gymnastics coach Danna Durante, an early McGarity hire. That means learning from success or from struggles and to make sure “we’re not cutting corners and that we have exceptional experiences for our fans and our student-athletes and that’s something I feel strongly about as well, so it’s nice to be under leadership that sees things that way. It’s not win at all costs. It’s win, but let’s do it the right way.”

Georgia finished 14th in the Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup, which ranked second among SEC teams for all sports performance. Georgia was No. 10 two years ago and No. 20 before McGarity took over.

Nearly half the head coaches have changed since McGarity arrived — seven of 15 — but the two most prominent, football coach Mark Richt and Fox are entering their 15th and seventh seasons respectively at Georgia.

There have been head coaching changes in volleyball, gymnastics, women’s golf, baseball, soccer, women’s basketball and track and field.

“I don’t take it as pressure,” Durante said. “I think there is an expectation at Georgia. That’s why people come to Georgia. Honestly, I think that’s why the athletes come to Georgia. There’s an expectation. We want to be successful. We want to set our student-athletes up to have success in the classroom and in the competition field, the gym, pool or wherever, to set them up in success in life. There’s a lot that goes into that.”

—

Bringing McGarity home to be athletic director was a popular choice.

“He’s one of us,” then president Michael Adams said on the day McGarity was introduced as AD. “I am convinced he was the right person at the right time at the right institution.”

McGarity took over after Damon Evans was forced out following a DUI arrest, but the honeymoon period e

McGarity, now 60, has faced his share of criticism, whether it’s how Georgia handled the Gurley situation or how it hasn’t dipped into athletic reserves to spend at the level of some of the Bulldogs’ competitors.

“You have to understand that the decisions that you make will always be challenged by everyone,” he said. “Maybe not challenged, but questioned. …I’ve always felt like any decision that’s made is made in the best interest of the institution. Sometimes that’s not in the best interest of an individual or a team or a coach or what have you. …I think sometimes people assume, they guess. They might read what’s on social media and then they form their opinion at that time. A lot of people voice frustration, they don’t understand. We are basically limited at times to talk about it until it’s all over. The hope is people would trust you to make the right decisions.”

Georgia’s athletic contributions have increased nearly 20 percent under McGarity and SEC Network money has flowed in with the school receiving $31.2 million this past year.

“Certainly the members of the Southeastern Conference are doing very well now,” Morehead said, “but I think it is also important to be prudent and careful because you do not know how long this period will last and you want to be thoughtful of how you spend your resources and strategic and I think Greg is doing a very good job of balancing those things. No one can deny that our sports programs aren’t receiving all of the resources that they need to be competitive and successful. I think they will be successful.”

Morehead says he likes how McGarity has run his department and extended McGarity’s contract for a year and a half through July 2019 in a deal that will pay him $575,000 this school year and $650,000 by the final year of the contract.

He said McGarity has installed “a culture of respectability and credibility,” in the athletic department.

“What I’ve learned about Greg is he’s going to do the right thing regardless of the criticism,” said Morehead, who worked with McGarity as provost before becoming president two years ago. “He has a very strong moral code. He’s very ethical. That’s what I need in an athletic director. There’s a temptation in this business to not always do the right thing and in Greg’s case I think he can be counted on to know that he wants to win more than anyone but he also wants to win in the right manner, following the rules and doing what’s going to be best for the institution.”

Including in the Gurley case.

The NCAA cited “ the university’s due diligence in its investigation,” as a factor in not imposing a more severe penalty for Gurley.

“How he handled the Todd Gurley situation and you compare his handling of that and how it played out both locally and nationally with the way some other institutions handled similar situations,” Morehead said. “I would always take the approach that Greg took as being the one that ultimately is not only best for the institution, but also best for our athletic program.”

Said football coach Mark Richt: “The goal when you have anything like that is you want to do the right think for Georgia, you want to do the right thing for Todd and you want to do things with integrity and I think we did that.”

The NCAA, Morehead said, also praised the athletic administration and the school for its handling of the Bauerle case which involved special arrangements made for a swimmer to take an independent study course to maintain eligibility.

“I think that’s why we avoided probation or significant penalties,” Morehead said. “I also think it helped that we had a head coach who enjoyed a very strong and positive reputation from over 30 years of outstanding work and all of that came together to lead a very positive outcome for us.”

Morehead offers high praise to a staff that includes Williams, “a very strong person in the No. 2 role,” Booz, CFO Andy Platt, president this year of the national athletic business association, academic support head Ted White and well-respected director of sports medicine Ron Courson and sports information director Claude Felton.

“ I’ve been impressed with the people he surrounded himself with,” Morehead said.

Is Georgia athletics in better shape than it was five years ago?

“I like to think that our programs are in the right trajectory moving forward,” McGarity said, noting that academic performance and staff development are other measurements that go beyond on field showings.

McGarity doesn’t want his coaches to get complacent.

“I want them to always feel like there’s a constant support, a constant effort to get a little bit better every day,” he said. “If we rest on our laurels or we just think problems at other schools could not happen here, that’s when issues arise.”

Georgia issued a statement from athletic director Greg McGarity saying he looked forward to helping Richt “move our program forward in all areas,” including the indoor practice facility which Pruitt had said publicly he wanted fast tracked.

Georgia is spending nearly $1 million to pay new offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer, who came from the NFL.

The football support staff has been beefed up and the budget for the program has increased 35.7 percent in the new fiscal year.

“I would just say with football as we’ve experienced success on the field, financial resources, compensation of coaches has increased,” McGarity said last month in his Butts-Mehre office. “I think you can check the record on that. There may be some years it may not be deserving of a certain sport. I always feel like good things happen on the field or court, good things follow with compensation. That’s been my track record.”

Asked if there was a change in perspective on either the administration or football side regarding resources, Richt said: “Well, I’m always going to give my opinion on what I think we need and we’re definitely progressing and I’m thankful for that.”

So are Georgia fans.

A man took the microphone at the UGA Day event Monday night in Atlanta where UGA president Jere Morehead was in attendance: “I would like to thank President Morehead for what appears to be the most administrative support that coach Richt has had.”

Fans cheered. Richt clapped with them.

Morehead, in an interview, said the narrative of a football-administrative friction was overstated.

“I do think that we’ve all come to an understanding on what is needed moving forward,” Morehead said. “We coalesced around a plan to build the indoor practice arena with the understanding that coach Richt would be heavily engaged in fundraising efforts.”

Richt said he’s been in contact with prospective donors already by phone and in person for the project.

“There’s more of that coming down the road I’m sure,” he said. “I’ve always been open to that.”

Morehead said he’s not sure the relationship between McGarity and the football program is any different than it was a “few years ago.”

Asked if tensions lessened, Richt said: “Well, I just think that everybody sees things from their chair and there are certain things that every head coach is trying to get his sport in position to have the best chance for victory. The AD’s job is to manage all that. He’s got a lot of head coaches to work with and that’s the relationship between the head coaches and ADs and that’s how it works here at Georgia, too.”

Georgia may have loosened the purse strings to pay its coaches, but only so much.

“I think Greg has us in a good place,” Morehead said. “Very competitive with other schools but not being as ridiculous as some institutions have become in that regard. I do think long-term we have some real challenges when it comes to coaching salaries. The escalation in salaries that we’ve seen in recent years I do not see that can be sustained over the long term, but we’re doing our part to remain competitive and we’ll continue to do so.”

Coaches and athletic directors clashing at times is not necessarily unusual.

When Damon Evans was athletic director, Richt and Evans didn’t see eye to eye when it came to upgrading nonconference scheduling, particularly when Georgia had to fly home from Arizona State and turn around and play Alabama the next week in 2008.

Richt wasn’t thrilled with the annual neutral site game in Jacksonville against Florida and voiced that during a stretch when the Gators won 18 of 21 against Georgia.

Carla Williams, Georgia’s deputy athletic director and the administrator who has been the direct contact for football over the last year, said this about perceived football/administration tensions:

“Let me answer it this way: In today’s world of college athletics, everything and everyone is ultracompetitive,” she said. “Everybody wants to win. Greg is no different. Coach Richt is no different. President Morehead is no different. I’m no different. Our student-athletes, our coaches are no different. People come to Georgia because they feel like they have a great chance to compete for and win championships at Georgia. When you’ve got a bunch of highly dedicated, motivated folks working towards a goal then to me that’s what it’s all about. I don’t know if there’s a perception if there’s tension or something there, but to me we’re all competitors trying to help Georgia win championships. …We want to make sure that we do what’s needed in order to compete because it’s a very, very competitive world.”

Nearly seven months later, there seems to be a joint effort for the program to succeed going forward.

“I’m just excited about the future of Georgia football and being a big part of it,” Richt said. “Really, I think things are certainly moving and from the facility standpoint, that’s a big deal and there’s other projects that you’ve got to have the vision to look down the road to get to. I think we’re moving.”

McGarity also sees momentum from the bowl game victory, to staff hires and a top 10 signing class.

“I just think that we’re heading in the right direction,” he said. “That was made clear with the statements I made after the season. Nothing’s been done to make those comments any different than they were. The work ethic of this staff is outstanding. The amount of time that they’re spending with their kids is remarkable and just to see that the passion that this staff has surrounding these kids. I mean these kids I think they really, really enjoy being around these coaches. You can tell.”

Said Morehead: “Certainly winning the bowl game and winning it decisively and finishing in the top 10 allowed us to end the football season on a very positive (note) and then have a great recruiting year. When things are going well in football naturally the assumption is that the relationships are stronger. I really think that we’ve got strong and positive communication between our football administration and our athletic administration and I’m not really worried about it. I think Coach Richt and the athletic director work very well together.”

Before the grind of preseason football practices start in a week for Georgia, the Bulldog coaches and their families got a chance to savor some downtime during a long weekend at Lake Oconee Thursday night to Sunday that included a spaghetti dinner.

“It’s sort of the last little time with the wives and the children to just have fun,” coach Mark Richt said. “Everybody enjoyed it.”

That came after a two-day organizational “hideaway” staff meeting.

Another sign that it’s almost time to strap on the helmets came Monday night when the final UGA Day offseason speaking tour stop for fans was held at the College Football Hall of Fame, which opened its doors less than a year ago.

“We’re ready to go,” Richt said before the sold-out program began. “Everything is in place and just start watching these guys perform and see who’s going start, see who’s going to earn playing time.”

The nonstop quarterback questions Richt has fielded this offseason will make way again for actual competition on the practice field again. Richt gets QB queries “everywhere I go,” and that includes when he’s around his nieces and nephews.

The three players competing for the job — Brice Ramsey, Faton Bauta and transfer Greyson Lambert — joined teammates at the hall of fame before the UGA Day event.

Georgia players accompanied youth from Athens from a 12-and-under football league as part of a UGA community outreach program.

Men’s basketball coach Mark Fox, who also spoke Monday night in Atlanta, had his stock answer when asked about who he likes in the QB race, joking that he thinks tailback Keith Marshall will start in the wildcat with star running back Nick Chubb on the other side.

UGA president Jere Morehead was asked during the program who he thought would be the starting QB: “You could say I did my part. We’ve admitted a young man from the University of Virginia. It’s in Coach Richt’s hands. He’s got several options.”

Georgia has updated its preseason depth chart online to make Ramsey and Bauta now co-No 1s (it was just Ramsey when it was first released). Newcomers like Lambert aren’t anywhere on the depth chart.

“We’re going to divide reps as equally as we can and put them in as many of the most common situations as possible,” Richt said.

He added later when speaking to fans: “We’ve not defined who the starting quarterback is going to be or who’s in the lead or anything like that.”

Brian Schottenheimer, the Bulldogs new offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, is likely to be calling plays from on the field, Richt said.

“I’ve got a feeling he’ll be down,” Richt said. “I think most NFL guys stay down. Right now I believe he’s going to be down.”

Former Georgia assistant Mike Bobo, now head coach at Colorado State, called plays from the press box level for most of his time as offensive coordinator.

Richt said he is expecting all signees to report next week except for linebacker Gary McRae who already is at junior college and junior college transfer DeVondre Seymour who left the team earlier this summer.

Richt spoke to fans as part of the UGA Day in the Atlanta area the last two years in Gwinnett County and before that for several years at the Cobb Galleria.

Fans will ask coaches to sign anything and everything.

“Some guy had us sign a Mustang this year, a brand new Mustang,” Fox said. “We just have fun with people. These are fun.”

Stop Greg Pyke if you have heard this before about Georgia’s offseason work.

It’s the best under first-year football director of strength and conditioning Mark Hocke.

Sounds similar to what players seem to say every year about this time.

“No, but honestly I think it is, for sure,” said Pyke, the Bulldog starting right guard, a second-team preseason All-SEC selection. “Coach Hocke is a crazy guy. We’ve been running stadiums on Fridays. It’s definitely been one of the tougher summers I’ve had here. Probably one of the best because we’re doing a lot of skelly work and offensive line drills and things like that.”

Hocke hasn’t done interviews with reporters since being hired before Georgia’s bowl game last December, but the “crazy guy” that Pyke described was on display at Georgia’s “Dawg Night” recruiting event Saturday that brought hundreds and hundreds of prospects to Athens.

The former Alabama strength staff assistant of six years was miced up. His voice boomed on the speakers but he may not have needed any extra amplification.

Here are some sound bites from Hocke who used current players to show campers how they do it when they first lined up:

• “Heels on the ground. Your heels should be on the ground. Your heels should be on the ground. Back on your butt. Back on your butt. Back on your butt. Back on

your butt. Men! Men! We are going to try this again and I’m going to teach you Dawg Jacks while you are in the squat position.”

• “I want to sound like a team. I got to sound like a team today.

• …Dawg Jacks Team Run!

(Players respond)

Dawg Jacks Team Run!

(Players respond)

Exercise!

D-A-W-G-S

Woof!

Dawgs!

Woof

Dawgs!

Woof

Dawgs!

Woof”

• “Three claps. Everybody stand up. Everybody stand up. We all together now? We all together now! Hey, I want to break a record! I want to make the Earth shake! Alright, as loud as you can! As loud as you can! I don’t want to hear you! I want to feel you! Dawg Jacks Team Run!”

Offensive tackle John Theus said the offseason work under Hocke has made the linemen leaner.

“They’re doing a great job, along with the nutritionists of giving us the ability to play with high energy,” Theus said. “They’re pushing us every day to be the best that we can be. I think a lot of the linemen have also taken the initiative to better their bodies as well. We have all gained muscle mass.”

Head coach Mark Richt and his coaching staff take over as preseason practices are slated to start on Aug. 4.

“Our guys have been working extremely hard,” Richt said. “The rules have changed a little bit where you can make some things mandatory throughout the summer. There’s certain things that we can do now and view now that we weren’t able to do in the past. Just I know that these guys have been paying the price for the ability to compete in the best league in America.”

A pair of newcomers showed playmaking ability at inside linebacker this spring.

The position already had holdover backups now vying for starting jobs.

All of which makes the name Leonard Floyd listed as a possible first-teamer at both inside and outside linebacker one of the storylines to watch when Georgia opens preseason practice in two weeks.

“You see him on two spots on the depth chart for a reason because he’s very versatile,” coach Mark Richt said of the fourth-year junior. “He could play inside, he could play outside. He’s played the nickel. He’s played out in space a little. A guy that can run like that and have the length that he has and still has the physical nature to play in the box. There’s just not many guys like that.”

Georgia returns Reggie Carter and Tim Kimbrough at the position and added a veteran in UAB transfer Jake Ganus, who has one season of eligibility remaining.

Freshman Natrez Patrick looked like a natural fit inside after moving from the outside this spring after enrolling early from Mays High in Atlanta.

Georgia also could get an early contribution from top 100 recruit Roquan Smith at the position.

“I just think it’s going to be a matter of trying to get the right guys in the right places,” Richt said. “In relation to who we’re playing, what style of offense do they have? What’s their deal? Where will we benefit the most? A lot of it will have to do with who we’re playing, what scheme it is, where can (Floyd) help us the most that given week.”

Georgia can roll out talented edge rushers at outside linebacker that most teams in the country would love to have.

Senior Jordan Jenkins was a first-team preseason All-SEC selection and has 15 career sacks. Sophomore Lorenzo Carter was named Georgia’s newcomer of the year in 2014, making five starts and accounting for four and a half sacks and 41 tackles.

“We like to build off each other and just wreck havoc pretty much,” Jenkins said.

Outside linebackers coach Kevin Sherrer spoke openly this spring about coaches having plans for the 6-foot-4, 231-pound Floyd to work inside.

“We want to get as many of those guys on the field as we can in different ways,” he said.

The group also includes sophomore Davin Bellamy, who had 17 tackles with a forced fumble and fumble recovery in a reserve role last season and junior college transfer Chuks Amaechi who had three sacks in one spring scrimmage.

Getting after the quarterback shouldn’t be an issue. Holding their ground against the run is an area to shore up this season.

“We’ve got the talent to do a lot of great things this year, but we’ve just got to capitalize on it,” Jenkins said. “With the scheme that coach (Jeremy) Pruitt has and all of the different lineups he can do with us, the sky’s the limit if we can capitalize on it and do what we need to do to win.”

Jenkins, Carter and Floyd all started games against Auburn, Charleston Southern and Georgia Tech to end the regular season before Floyd missed the bowl game and spring practices after shoulder surgery, but he’s expected to return to practice full go next month.

“It will open up some things so offenses can’t key on one of us,” Jenkins said. “Having him back there it changes the whole thing up and even if he starts playing on the line, it gives us versatility in our defense. We have no problem moving down to d-end to get all of us on the field at the same time. At the end of the day, that’s going to help us win games.”

Floyd led Georgia with six sacks last season, racking up 55 tackles and eight and a half tackles for loss.

“He’s athletic enough to play any position on the field,” Jenkins said. “I’m pretty sure he feels comfortable playing any role he needs to fill. …He can play darn near every position on the field.”

Georgia may have questions about its quarterback position, but the Bulldogs offense was represented by four players on the preseason All-Southeastern Conference football team released Friday as voted on by the media.

Sophomore running back Nick Chubb and senior offensive tackle John Theus were selected to the first team, junior offensive guard Greg Pyke landed on the second team and senior wide receiver Malcolm Mitchell was a third-team selection.

Senior outside linebacker Jordan Jenkins and senior kicker Marshall Morgan were also on the first team while junior outside linebacker Leonard Floyd was a second-team pick.

Chubb is a Heisman Trophy candidate after being named SEC Freshman of the Year last season and was named Friday to the 50 player Walter Camp Player of the Year preseason watch list.

He was the top vote-getter on the All-SEC team ahead of Florida cornerback Vernon Hargreaves and Alabama linebacker Reggie Ragland.

Morgan went 16 of 21 on field goals last season and is 46 of 59 for his career.

Jenkins had 70 tackles with five sacks last season. Floyd had 55 tackles and six sacks.

Mitchell has 116 career catches for 1,485 yards and 11 touchdowns. He made 31 catches for 248 yards with three touchdowns in nine games last season.

A pair of sophomores didn’t make the cut, but would seem to be top candidates to still make the postseason team: outside linebacker Lorenzo Carter and returner Isaiah McKenzie. Carter had 41 tackles and four and a half sacks as a freshman and McKenzie returned two punts for touchdowns and one kickoff.

Marcus Thornton may be a long-shot to be selected in Thursday’s NBA draft. He may not even be the most highly-rated player named Marcus Thornton in the pool of prospects.

Georgia’s all-time leader in games played certainly has tried to make the most of his chances to be seen up close and personal by teams in recent weeks.

The 6-foot-8, 240-pound forward from Atlanta has worked out for seven NBA teams, becoming a frequent flyer in the lead-up to the draft.

“It’s definitely a whirlwind,” he said before a Tuesday workout in Los Angeles for the Clippers.

Phoenix, Philadelphia, Miami, San Antonio, Oklahoma City and the Los Angeles Lakers also brought Thornton in to get a look-see at the player who was named second-team All-Southeastern Conference last season.

His two trips to Los Angeles gave Thornton a chance to also see his sister, Andrea, who works in TV production

At one of his team visits, Thornton was there along with Marcus Thornton, a guard from William and Mary, not to be confused with Marcus Thornton, the Phoenix Suns’ guard.

“I’m pretty cool with him now,” Georgia’s Thornton said of the other draft prospect. “We get that all the time.”

The other Thornton isn’t projected by ESPN’s Jay Bilas to be drafted.

“I think it’s a really deep draft,” Bilas said. “It’s a really talented draft. There are just so many close calls.”

Unlike the NFL and MLB draft, the NBA draft isn’t a three-day affair.

Only 60 players will be selected, making going in the two rounds quite selective.

“We’re definitely not ruling him out of being drafted,” said Ben Pensack, the San Francisco-based agent of Georgia’s Thornton. “He’s had some good workouts. The second round, you never know what’s going to happen there. It’s very unpredictable. Overall, the feedback from teams has been positive.”

Said Thornton: “It’s not one of those situations where everybody pretty much gets a chance, gets a shot. You just have to get after it every single day. That’s the biggest thing I can worry about it, continue to compete and take advantage of every opportunity given to me.”

That opportunity, if Thornton goes undrafted, could be an invite to an NBA summer league team in Orlando or Las Vegas.

Thornton led Georgia in scoring (12.3 points per game) and rebounding (7.3) this past season when he was named to the SEC all-defensive team.

He thinks he offers an NBA team “toughness, defense and intangibles. Rebounding, the small things that not a lot of people want to do. Of course there are other skills I can bring to the table. I think I’m definitely developing my offensive game and my jump shot. I think I’m just a really good team player and bring a lot of character in any organization.”

Thornton already has an undergraduate degree in real estate and is close to earning a master’s degree in sports management.

Opening the college football season with a marquee top 20 matchup provides plenty of motivation to get through sweltering summer workouts.

Starting with Louisiana-Monroe? That doesn’t quite register as much on the excitement meter for Georgia like getting a shot at a ranked Clemson team each of the past two years, but the Bulldogs aren’t framing it like that.

“It’s no different whether we’re playing Louisiana-Monroe, Alabama or Clemson,” senior defensive lineman Sterling Bailey said. “We’re going to treat every team the same way. The saying is any given day you can be beat.”

The countdown clock outside the football offices in the Butts-Mehre building has been marking how many days, hours, minutes and seconds until the Sept 5, 2015 season opener like it does before every game.

It’s now at the 80-day mark.

“I personally think we work so hard and then you go to camp, I think game one is just an exciting time — period,” Georgia coach Mark Richt said. “I don’t think it matters who you play game one. And I think Louisiana-Monroe has a really outstanding football team and we’re going to have to be ready and everybody knows that.”

Well, maybe.

The Warhawks, under coach Todd Berry, are coming off a 4-8 season that included three losses to SEC teams (31-0 at LSU, 48-14 at Kentucky and 21-16 at Texas A&M). Hey, there was that overtime upset against Arkansas in 2012 when John L. Smith was the Razorbacks’ head coach.

“They are not a team we’re going to take lightly by any means,” senior offensive tackle Kolton Houston said.

Three other losses for Louisiana-Monroe last year were by six or less points including 22-16 at Georgia Southern in the season finale.

“They gave us a tremendous ballgame,” Georgia Southern coach Willie Fritz said. “They were really not playing for anything. To me, that’s a sign of good coaching. You motivate your guys and they play extremely hard in that kind of situation. They took us down to the last play of the game for us to win 22-16 at our place.”

Two days before Georgia kicks off its season, Georgia Tech gets going against FCS opponent Alcorn State. Game three brings a non-conference road trip to Notre Dame.

“We’ve got a schedule that’s probably the toughest I’ve had since we’ve been at Tech,” said coach Paul Johnson, whose team also plays Florida State, Clemson and Georgia. “Our division is tough enough. With all of those games, our schedule will probably be ranked in the top 15 or 20, I’m sure.”

The opener may be a yawner for Georgia, but the non-conference slate includes the annual tilt with Georgia Tech and a monster game with Alabama in Athens.

This seems like good timing to open with an opponent from the Sun Belt Conference given there will be a new starter at quarterback — Brice Ramsey, Faton Bauta or Virginia graduate transfer Greyson Lambert.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever gone into game on and said the guys weren’t excited about playing that game,” Richt said. “I don’t care who the opponent is.”

Georgia freshman wide receiver Terry Godwin was selected in the 33rd round by the home state Atlanta Braves Wednesday in the MLB First-Year Player Draft, but he still is likely to be playing between the hedges this season for the Bulldogs.

Godwin is leaning towards playing both football and baseball at Georgia, according to Dusty Hubbard, who coached Godwin in baseball at Callaway High. Godwin was the 990th overall pick on the final day of the draft.

Coach Mark Richt has told Godwin, a five-star football recruit, that arrangement of playing two sports in Athens would work out as long as he was taking care of business in the classroom. Godwin is already in summer school at Georgia.

“I think he would have had to go pretty high to get him away from there,” Hubbard said Wednesday night. “I think that’s what he wanted to do and what he’s worked hard for. I would be shocked if he wasn’t there playing football there this fall.”

The 6-foot, 165-pound Godwin was drafted as a center fielder. He played third base all four seasons of high school and also played shortstop and in the outfield. Godwin took part in a Braves workout at Turner Field last month.

“He’s expressed a commitment to baseball,” Braves director of scouting Brian Bridges told reporters Wednesday night in Atlanta, according to the Associated Press. “He would like to pursue baseball or we wouldn’t have gone down this road with him. He’s an athlete. He’s got a plus arm and can run and do some things.”

Godwin hit .277 with two home runs and 17 runs batted in with 15 stolen bases in 83 at bats this season. He missed practices and some games early in the season because he was playing basketball.

“A lot of people see him as an athlete,” Hubbard said. “He’s played baseball since he was 6 of 7 years old. He understands the game, understands it from a mental standpoint. He’s got a great throwing arm, runs well, has really good instincts and good bat speed.”

Said Bridges: “He’s a kid who loves baseball. He’s a great kid. So moving forward, we’ll just have to talk to him and see how it goes from there.”

Godwin needs to work on his timing when hitting, but Hubbard said he has power and great feet.”

“He’s intriguing just because he’s got so many tools,” he said.

Signing bonuses for players are slotted based on where they are selected. The 315th overall pick (final 10th round selection) was slotted at $149,700, according to Baseball America which listed figures for the first 315 picks.

Teams that pay more can be penalized draft picks, Hubbard said. He didn’t think the money for a pick as late as Godwin could get him away from playing football at Georgia.

Richt and offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer each said they had not talked to Godwin about pro possibilities in baseball, although Richt didn’t rule out that another assistant coach may have.

Godwin is one of Georgia’s key recruits because of the need for playmakers at wide receiver.

To the victors go the spoils, especially when you are Georgia Tech and coming off the first football victory against in-state rival Georgia since 2008.

That means rings that Yellow Jacket players are proudly wearing this offseason include not only that they are Orange Bowl champions and won the ACC Coastal Division but declare they are “State Champs.”

“A big win like that brings a lot of life back into a program,” senior defensive lineman Adam Gotsis said. “It’s been a while since we’ve won one like that. It’s just great for Georgia Tech. Give credit to Georgia. They’re a great team and it’s always going to be a good game between us just because it is a rivalry.”

A rivalry where Georgia had won 12 of 13 under coach Mark Richt before last year’s game turned into disaster at the end of regulation with a squib kick and 53-yard Tech field goal. Georgia Tech left Athens with a 30-24 upset overtime win.

“It’s definitely something where you don’t realize the importance of it and the magnitude of it until you’re actually in it,” said Yellow Jacket senior offensive lineman Errin Joe, who started against Georgia. “That was definitely a big thing for us and a big thing especially for our fans. I was glad we could give them a win, too.”

Georgia used to prominently push the lopsided nature of the series with the slogan ‘We Run This State,’ something Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson brought up when asked about the “State Champs” on the rings.

“We just copied Georgia,” Johnson said. “They’re the guys who started ‘We Run This State.’ We just kind of played off that.”

The talk of all of this makes Georgia senior offensive tackle Kolton Houston noticeably agitated.

“Yeah, you know, that hurts,” Houston said. “That game will always hurt. Even when I’m 50, 60 years old. That game will always hurt. But life’s not perfect. You can’t win every game, but we’re going to come back strong this year.”

Joe, from Lakeland, Fla., said Georgia Tech players will have “all the games circled, but that last game is always important. We always know that’s always a

great game.”

Georgia Tech now has former Georgia tailback and defensive back J.J. Green on the team. He’s an A-back in the Yellow Jackets’ triple-option offense, but must sit out this year as a transfer.

“We give him a hard time,” Joe said. “Every once in a while we try to get him to say, ‘To hell with Georgia.’ He’s working on it.”

Georgia plays at Georgia Tech on Nov. 28.

“No matter where the teams are ranked, it’s one of those games where you always know that something special is going to happen,” said Gotsis, a native of Australia who played little football before coming to the United States. “The last two years that’s really happened, both games going into overtime, both just being heartbreaking for one team. You’ve had the high and the low and I think this year is going to be even better.”

Gotsis didn’t know much about the rivalry until he said Georgia Tech “got killed” 42-10 in 2012. The overtime loss a year later left “a bad taste in our mouths.”

Now that’s what Georgia feels from last year’s game.

Houston didn’t make a Joe Namath type guarantee exactly, but he did say this regarding the Governor’s Cup: “We’re going to get that trophy back in our locker room.”